Privacy Matters

President Obama has come out in favor of unbreakable encryption technology, slamming as unworkable the installation of 'backdoors' into software to enable security services to snoop on private communications and internet traffic.

Obama's comments come in response to a proposal outlining a sweeping anti-terrorism law that would require companies to hand over encryption keys and private user data to government officials.

Last week's FCC vote to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of federal communications law gives the regulatory body more power to ensure companies like Comcast and AT&T don't censor, slow down, or charge a premium for the delivery of certain internet content. The net neutrality victory substantially advances the First Amendment in the digital age.

Former FBI director Robert Mueller told an American Bar Association breakfast today that the government's dragnet collection of US phone records assisted in the Boston marathon bombing investigation. The Intercept reports:

According to patients and their advocates, police departments throughout the country routinely station officers outside of methadone clinics and harass patients going in and out, sometimes arresting them on dubious drug related charges often involving informants. John Knefel reports on the problem for Buzzfeed, and includes this disturbing detail:

An Assistant Attorney General told a DC audience yesterday that the DOJ would potentially prosecute people for 'speech crimes' if they propagandize on social media in support of ISIS. Shane Harris with the scoop: